"You've got to be kidding me," Isis cried out in frustration before laying her head down on the table. She had a tablet in front of her with various job offers from the guild, none of which were as lucrative as she had hoped. Upon hearing her friend's cry for attention Hirai came out of her room while sliding a jacket over her head.

"Something wrong," she asked.

"Yeah, everything's wrong," Isis replied, "I would have thought that after being involved in two government conspiracies I'd be getting better job offers but the best bounty I can get is some stupid bail jumper on Sullust for a grand. I can't believe this! The guild's still not taking me seriously!"

Hirai finished slipping both her arms into the sleeves of her jacket and started to button it up. "You know, Isis, I'd hate to break it to you but you're an eighteen year old girl. You're not exactly the most intimidating person in the world."

Isis gave her a look. "You know, the last person who said that to me is still picking his teeth up off the floor."

"Which brings me to problem number two, you're kind of a loose cannon. What did you say to your guild representative the last time you spoke to him?"

"That I would hunt him down and use his head as an ornament for the hood of my car if he didn't offer me a better job," she asked innocently.

"Exactly," Hirai said, "you don't command respect because you haven't done anything to earn it. You just shout at people and expect everything to be done your way."

"Everything should be done my way. I'm the only one who knows what she's talking about," Isis told her, then she looked at Hirai from her head to her feet, "By the way, are you going somewhere?"

"To the shopping center with some friends from work," Hirai said, "By the way, have you seen my... Oh, there it is," she said when she saw her bag sitting on a nearby couch.

Isis looked confused. "Friends? What friends? Everyone you know is right here."

Hirai gave her a look. "You know that's not true. Tav isn't here, Clara's not here, my Dad's not here."

Isis just rolled her eyes. "Okay, let me rephrase that. Everyone who matters is right here."

"Morning girls," Isis' father said as he entered the room carrying a mug of caf in one hand a datapad in the other.

Isis made a face. "Except Dad," she added under her breath.

Hirai smiled then started to head for the door. "Anyway, I won't be gone long so don't forget to tell Gabriela to set a place for me at the dinner table."

"Forget what? Sorry, I wasn't listening," Isis said and now it was Hirai's turn to roll her eyes before leaving the house.

After she had left Isaac looked over at his daughter. "Those better be job applications you're looking at," he said.

"You're not wrong," Isis answered as she went back to scrolling through the various offers. Unbeknownst to her Isaac had come over to stand behind her and look over her shoulder.

"Well, technically you agreed and I just nodded my head and said, 'yeah sure, dad,'" she said sarcastically.

Isaac gave his daughter a hard stare. "Look, you're still my child and I don't want you doing anything dangerous."

"Which brings us back to Beruss," Isis said in an exasperated tone as she flipped the tablet over onto its screen, "Why spend my entire childhood teaching me all of these skills if you don't want me to use them?"

"Because I want you to be able to look after yourself."

"I can look after myself!"

"I have a business arrangement with Dorval the Hutt that says otherwise," he said as he crossed the room and sat down in his favorite chair.

Isis rolled her eyes. "You're never going to let me live that one down, will you?"

"Not on your life," he said before taking a sip of his caf.

A second later a tone sounded at the front door and both Isis and Isaac ignored it. Isis went back to browsing guild offers on her tablet while Isaac was perusing the reports he took home from the office. The tone sounded again and Isaac looked up. "Gabriela there's someone at the door," he called out and then he waited a moment. When there was no response he stood. "Gabriela?"

Still nothing, so he looked over at Isis. "Isis, where's Gabriela?"

Isis suddenly had a guilty look on her face when she suddenly realized she forgot something. "Oh, uh--yeah, she was bothering the hell out of me earlier so I plugged her microprocessor into the coffee machine."

Isaac looked down at his mug and frowned. "That explains why this is decaf," he muttered under his breath. "Anyway, go put her brain back inside her head and don't ever do that again," he told her as he headed for the door. When Isis didn't immediately move to do what she was told he raised his voice. "Now, Isis."

Isis let out an explosive sigh before leaving the room. Meanwhile, Isaac opened the front door to see a woman standing on the other side of it. The moment he recognized who it was he immediately shut the door and walked away. The tone sounded again and then again and finally Isaac went back to open the door.

"What are you doing here," he whispered sharply, "I told you before I never want to see you here again."

"Please, Isaac, just hear me out. I have something I need to tell you," the woman pleaded with him.

"Isaac, that was twelve years ago and things have changed. Please, just give me another chance."

"I gave you plenty of chances, Vanessa, and you squandered every one of them. Now leave before my daughter sees you."

"See's who, Dad," Isis asked as she came back into the room, "Who's at the door?"

Isaac sighed deeply and after a moment's hesitation he eventually stepped to the side of the door and allowed this woman Isis didn't recognize to walk into their living room. The strange woman looked right at Isis, her expression filled with joy. "Sweetie," she said, a big smile on her face and tears in her eyes, "I'm your mother..."

Last edited by Pryde on Tue Jun 06, 2017 9:42 am, edited 1 time in total.

Isis was stunned, with her mouth half agape she looked at her father. "Uh, Dad, why is there a strange woman in our living room claiming to be my mother?"

"Because she is, hun," Isaac said and his tone sounded defeated.

Now Isis couldn't believe what she was hearing. "That's a joke, right," she demanded, "This is all a joke because you told me my mother passed away."

"You told her I was dead, Isaac," Vanessa asked incredulously, "How could you?"

Isaac dropped his datapad onto a nearby table with a loud thud and stepped away from them towards the center of the room. "What the hell was I supposed to tell her, Vanessa? She was five! Do I tell her that mommy left her because she doesn't love her? Or do I tell her that mommy overdosed on death sticks and left my Five year old daughter standing in front of an open flame so daddy had to send mommy away?"

"So instead you tell her I was dead," she asked, following behind him with her hands on her hips.

Isaac gave her a hard look. "Your drug addiction nearly killed our daughter, Vanessa. As far as I was concerned I didn't want you coming back into her life."

Isis just stared at him in shock. "So, you've been lying to me for twelve fething years," she asked, "What the hell, Dad?"

"You watch your mouth, dear," Vanessa told her, almost on reflex.

Isis glared at her. "Like you get to order me around? You ran out on us for twelve years!"

"She's right, Isis, watch your tongue," Isaac interrupted and Isis just gave him an incredulous look.

"Now I know this is a joke. You've never had a problem with anything I've said before."

"That's quite the assumption," Isaac said simply.

Vanessa shook her head and looked at Isis. "Look, sweetie, I left because your father told me to and he was right. I was a danger to you, to myself. It was the best thing for you to have me out of your life, but I never thought he would have told you I was dead," she fixed Isaac with a hard stare.

Isaac simply ignored it. "Why the hell are you back here, Vanessa?"

Vanessa sighed then fell back into the couch before speaking. "I'm not here for myself," she began in an uncertain voice. "I'm here because of your sister," she said as she looked over at Isis.

"My--what," Isis asked, her mind still racing trying to catch up, "What are you talking about?"

Vanessa averted her eyes before explaining. "Four weeks after I left your father I found out I was pregnant. Her name's Caitlyn and she's twelve now. She's been asking about you," she said, looking up at Isaac, "I didn't want her growing up not knowing who her father was and yes, I know you asked me to stay away but things are different now! Ever since I found out I was having Caitlyn I've been working hard to get clean. I just--I didn't want to repeat the same mistakes I made with Isis. So please, Isaac. She wants to meet you... Both of you," she added, shifting her gaze over to Isis.

Isaac looked over at his daughter. "Isis, give us the room," he said simply.

Isaac simply held a hand up towards her in response. "It does, Isis, but I will discuss this with you after I have spoken to your mother."

Isis just glanced between the two of them then finally threw her arms up in the air. "Fine," she said before grabbing her tablet and heading to her room.

After she had gone Vanessa looked back at Isaac with a note of concern in her eyes. "By the way, Isaac, would you mind telling me why my daughter is dressed like an eighteen year old boy?"

Isaac just gave her a look. "Don't you start with that. I have had to raise a little girl on my own and clearly I have no idea what I'm doing. She needed her mother, Vanessa. You could have been a part of that if you'd only gotten clean when I asked you to. Now what the hell am I supposed to do?"

"Just meet your daughter," Vanessa told him, "Whatever feelings you have towards me don't take them out on Caitlyn, she's a good girl. A lot like her father."

"That would be a refreshing change," Isaac muttered under his breath. He turned his back on Vanessa and rested his head in the palm of his hand. After a moment he finally turned back to look at her. "Alright, Vanessa, I'll talk it over with Isis. If she's okay with it we'll meet Caitlyn..."

************

"No," Isis said stubbornly as she paced back and forth, "That woman has been gone for twelve years of my life and now she decides to come back here and tell me she's my mother? I don't have a mother, Dad, she died twelve years ago!"

"Isis, I told you I sent her away," Isaac told her.

"So," she answered, "you tell me to do a lot of things I never do. What's your point?"

"So you're okay with the drug abuse then," Isaac asked her pointedly.

Isis shook her head. "Of course not, Dad, it's just...," She stopped pacing and sat down on the edge of the bed next to her father, "She got clean for her new daughter, but why didn't she get clean for me?"

Isaac sighed then rested an arm around his daughter's shoulders. "Sometimes it takes a near tragedy like the one you've been through to make a person reconsider their life. That night your mother overdosed I nearly lost you both but from her perspective that loss is real. I did the only thing I could think of to keep you safe and because of me your mother lost her family."

"Which brings me back to you," Isis said, getting up from the bed and then turning on him, "Why the hell did you lie to me?"

Isaac tugged nervously at his collar. It was probably the first time in her life Isis had ever seen him this uncomfortable. "Like I told your mother you were five," he said, "If I had told you the truth you wouldn't have understood it. I would be the father that sent your mother away and you would have hated me forever."

Isis rolled her eyes at that. "Yeah, cause the constant memory exercises and war games didn't accomplish that."

"Or," Isaac continued, speaking over her, "you would have thought that your mommy left you because she didn't love you. When she was sober she was a good mother and you always had this perfect image of her in your mind. I just couldn't... I didn't want to take that away from you. Contrary to what you may think of me, Isis, I do care about you a lot and I still care about her. Which is why I think you should reconsider. I know how much family means to you even when you're pretending that it doesn't."

"Dad, I don't know who these people are," she said, "She can't just come back into our lives and say I have a sister and expect everything to be fine and how do we even know she's telling the truth?"

"Because, Isis, Vanessa wouldn't have back here unless she was certain Caitlyn was mine. Anyway," he said, getting up from the bed and heading towards the door, "just think about it for now. If tomorrow your answer is still no then I will break the news to Vanessa."

"Dad," Isis asked suddenly, stopping him momentarily from leaving the room, "What do you think I should do?"

Isaac glanced back at her, one hand on the door frame. "Just do what you always do. Follow your heart."

Then he opened the door and stepped outside, closing the door behind himself. Isis stared after him after he was gone. Twelve years of her life her father had been lying to her and now all of a sudden she was expected to just forget about all of that? Just yesterday her life seemed pretty simple, aside from the complicated mess that was her career at the Bounty Hunter's Guild. Today, though, everything was suddenly spiraling out of control and she had no idea what to think anymore. None of the training she did with her father or at Beruss could have ever prepared her for this...